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Thrift Store Scavenger Hunt (with FREE printable game form!)

Shopping at thrift stores is for people who have more time than money. To show you what I mean, please refer to this garish infographic that I spent all night making. If your green (money) lines are lower than your orange (time) lines, then thrift store shopping might be right for you!

As the graph shows, in my late twenties I experienced a brief span of having more money than time. I actually bought clothes and stuff brand-new, at fully-staffed retail outlets with working bathrooms. It felt so indulgent: The dressing rooms had mirrors and the price tags weren’t stapled to the clothes. I didn’t even have to check the sweaters for burn holes.

Then my two youngest were born in quick succession, and suddenly I had neither time nor money, but — perhaps out of boredom — the urge to thrift grew even stronger.

Most kids won’t fight a trip to the thrift store. It provides endless stimulation and lots of new smells. Now that they’re too big to be strapped down, I let them play with whatever they find in the toy aisle… Until I get a friendly reminder from the manager that the toy aisle isn’t a drop-off day care center. To maximize my scavenging time, I decided to give the kids jobs. “Go find mommy a giant bra!” or, “See which one of you can find the most disturbing clown figurine!” Guess what? It worked! No longer were they playing hide-and-seek in the plus-sized men’s pants, they were busy discovering the magic and wonder of second-hand retail.

As a public service to the other Scavengers with bored children or spouses, I’ve developed a Thrift Store Scavenger Hunt, guaranteed to give you at least 45 minutes of carefree shopping time.

INSTRUCTIONS:Print out this FREE scavenger hunt form and hand out to your whiny spouse or children:THRIFT STORE SCAVENGER HUNT (downloadable PDF)

Give each player a time limit and a shopping cart. When you have finished your shopping, add up the points and give the winner a special prize, like a half-used bottle of hand lotion. Each time you play, encourage your little scavengers to take their game to the next level.

Related

Woman after my own heart, sigh… where were you when my kids were little?
Hey, here’s an idea I love and you might – find old, tacky landscape paintings and have the kids paint monsters in the landscape! Doesn’t that sound totally fun! I think it would be a great auction art project 🙂 Once my 13 yo son and I found a painting that at first glance looked like Jesus roasting marshmallows next to a lake – we could not stop our laughing fit for a long time 🙂

Funny you say that, cause my kids and I just picked up a big framed 70s cityscape print from our alley. I like it cause it looks like Chicago’s skyline, but there’s way too much brown and orange. I was thinking of keeping the buildings, but painting the sky something strange and beautiful.

American thrift stores are one of the joys of my heart. Alas, here in the UK our equivalent (charity shops) simply don’t have the same scope for sheer wackiness. They’re basically just regular shops where you can buy normal things for lower prices and bonus moral superiority.

Our shops in Oz are also not up to standard. Too many rather well used workwear garments in a limited colour palette of yellow, blue and orange, too much ratty acrylic knitwear, too much kitch Nana-style china… Your experience looks like a whole lot more fun!